Sadyqov's wife, Natalya Sadyqova, told RFE/RL the board rejected the conditional release. It would have allowed Sadyqov to be transferred from jail to a minimum-security labor camp, where inmates are allowed to work outside the camp and live near the camp with their families.

Sadyqov was found guilty in July of hooliganism and resisting arrest and sentenced to two years in jail, a verdict that was upheld in August by an Aqtobe Oblast court.

Sadyqov and his wife say the case against him is politically motivated. In December, Sadyqova told RFE/RL she planned to file a complaint to the United Nations Committee for Human Rights.